Methods for error detection and correction of digital signals, such as digital voice or digital data, vary with specific applications. For digital voice signals transmitted at a very low bit rate, forward error correction is frequently used to protect the bits. Forward error correction involves adding redundant bits to the digital signal, which affects the effective channel rate, which in turn can reduce the effective capacity of the system.
It is desirable to provide a minimal redundancy method for effectively detecting and correcting errors in a received digital signal.